Plumber salary in Des Moines, IA
Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025
Plumbers in the Des Moines–West Des Moines, IA area earn a median of $75,040 a year, or $36.08 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $99,570 a year. That's 17% more than the Iowa median of $63,890.
- Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
- $22.94/hr
- Jobs in this area
- 2,150
- After cost of living
- $81,830
- Median hourly pay
- $36.08/hr
- vs U.S. median
- +18%
- vs Iowa median
- +17%
- Mean (average) pay
- $73,230 a year · $35.21 an hour
Pay by percentile
What plumbers in Des Moines, IA earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.
| Percentile | Hourly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $22.94 | $47,720 |
| 25th percentile | $28.70 | $59,690 |
| Median (50th) | $36.08 | $75,040 |
| 75th percentile | $45.12 | $93,850 |
| 90th percentile | $47.87 | $99,570 |
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.
How Des Moines, IA compares
- Des Moines ranks 3rd of 9 Iowa metro areas for plumber pay.
- Plumbers are more concentrated in the Des Moines area than nationally: 5.3 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.8 times the U.S. share.
Other Iowa metro areas
Other trades in Des Moines, IA
Questions
- Do plumbers make more in Des Moines or Cedar Rapids?
- Cedar Rapids pays more: the median is $75,040 in Des Moines and $83,210 in Cedar Rapids, a 10% difference.
About this data
Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), area code 19780 (Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed plumbers and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (91.7, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures